The Retirement Newsletter: Ten weeks and counting, and should I launch a paid newsletter

Issue Number: -10 — Well, not quite….

Nov 12, 2023

Welcome

Welcome to issue -10 — ten weeks to go until I retire (or is it), and having done the pension maths, I have discovered I can retire, but a bit of extra income would be helpful.

Ten weeks and counting

I did it.

I have handed in my notice.

I later discovered I had resigned to the wrong person and had to resign again a couple of days later. So, last week, I resigned twice from the same job.

I found writing the resignation letter difficult. After two or three goes, I asked chatGPT to write it for me, and it did a good job. All it needed was an edit and a polish, and it was ready.

I’m officially counting down to the day I hang up my chalk and leave the lecture theatre.

Actually, I have never used chalk. I’ve used pens and whiteboards, but most of my early teaching involved using slides and overheads (who remembers overhead projectors?). Later, I moved to using PowerPoint with a data projector, and I ditched PowerPoint as soon as Apple Keynote came along. I’ve only used chalk when visiting schools in Malaysia and SE Asia to talk about science and going to university. To protect the chalk from breaking and to keep chalk dust off the rest of my things, I carried a stick of chalk around in a 15 ml plastic test tube with a screw top lid (if you are in the game, a 15 ml blue top). It worked great, but it did get funny looks at airport security, so I started carrying it in my suitcase.

I still feel unsure about retiring, and I have moments of panic when I question what I have done.

The other day, I was talking science with some students and realised how much I would miss those moments. How much I enjoyed them. We were looking at some data in their final year project when one of them explained what was going on and what we should do next. And I thought — I taught them that — a great feeling.

I returned to my office, opened my email and saw all the admin that awaited. The moment of joy from talking to the students was gone.

So, this is it — the last ten weeks of my academic career. I have a few lectures to give, some tutorials, a bit of marking and three lab sessions to run. And that is it. Done.

A small confession: it’s more like 20 weeks, as I didn’t get the timing of handing in my notice correct. Plus, I have the backbone of a jellyfish and agreed to do my teaching until the end of term 2, which is the end of March 2024.

Launching a paid newsletter

I’m still thinking about launching a paid newsletter.

I am unsure if it’s a good idea or what the newsletter would be about.

When I started the retirement newsletter, I thought I would launch a paid version after six months or a year. But I didn’t because I felt the newsletter didn’t warrant the payment. That is, it didn’t have any value. The newsletter had morphed from what I had planned — a newsletter of helpful advice and tips for those planning to retire — into a "stream" of my thoughts about retirement. So, I believed it didn’t offer any practical or valuable advice to help the reader and for which I could charge.

Now that I’m looking at my imminent retirement and having done the pension maths, I realise that I am a few thousand pounds short per year for my planned retirement lifestyle. And while I’m not expecting a subscription-based newsletter to cover all of that, every little bit of income helps. The newsletter would be one part of the solution.

I can live comfortably on my pension retirement, but there is not much wiggle room. But things will be easier once I hit the UK government state pension age and start taking my State Pension. Yet, I need to reach that point, and I am reluctant to burn through my savings to get there. I need a series of income streams.

Plus, the early retirement years are the spending years. It’s the time to have fun and do everything you wanted to do but couldn’t because you were working. Hence the need for a little bit of extra cash.

Another plus to setting up a side-hustle, besides the money, is having some activity to engage with would be good for my mental well-being, so it is a win-win.

So, what could I put into a paid version of this newsletter that has value? What would be something that readers may be willing to pay for in a newsletter? What would you be willing to pay for in a newsletter? Please let me know.

Travel — Nostalgia Corner

This week, here are some stories from my time in Singapore:

Singapore — Haw Par Villa (虎豹别墅), 262 Pasir Panjang Road, Singapore — free entry — A strange morning exploring a strange place — but worth a visit. The place is seriously weird. I’ll never look at Tiger Balm the same way again.
Singapore — Haw Par Villa, 262 Pasir Panjang Road, Singapore — Visiting the 10 Courts of Hell in Singapore. Is this what awaits us all? I hope not. Clearly, a sick imagination was at work here.
Singapore — Beach in Singapore — Sentosa Island — Going to the beach in Singapore. Another odd one. When is a beach, not a beach?
Singapore — Southern Most Point of Continental Asia — Palawan Island, Singapore — I don’t think so! It is odd that they try to claim this in at this location in Singapore, as there is a place further south down the road. Plus, I would argue that Tanjung Piai National Park in Malaysia is the most southerly point in mainland Asia.
Singapore — How Malaysian Border Officers can ruin a day out in Singapore - The problem with going to Singapore — Getting back into Malaysia was always a problem.

Next week, more from Singapore.

Next week

Next week, in issue -9, I start thinking about what awaits me in retirement — the next steps.

Thanks

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Until next time,

Nick

PS, If you want to contribute something to the newsletter — a story, advice, anything — please get in touch.

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